The other day I was standing on the sidewalk in front of a spectacle emporium, talking with my friend Mike, when I noticed a small red headed boy peeking from beyond the window pane. He seemed about three years old and looked similar to the way I looked at that age. I guess I underestimated his stage of mental development because he actually realized that I was looking at him and promptly diverted his eyes. A lot of children his age don't have the mental capacity to acknowledge the fact that they are actually their own organism, and not just part of their surroundings. Self realization is one of the qualities one must have in order to be considered a "person". Not all people are humans (some chimps are technically "people").
Not all humans are people (babies, brain dead). In the philosophy class that I took sophomore year, I learned that some of the more prominent contemporary ethicists believe that killing a non-person is not an amoral action. Basically, there are some very convincing arguments that infer the notion that abortion, as well as infanticide, is moral.
So this red headed kid, this little me, keeps looking away. He doesn't turn around in his chair because for some reason he feels compelled to look out the window, hoping that he will blend into the glass and somehow become part of his environment. The discomfort on his face showed a mind in transition.
By the way, I was kind of glancing at him like one would look at a squirrel hesitant to cross paths with you. It wasn't weird and creepy.
Speak easy,
Neil
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